Nathalie Loiseau Reckons Balkan States Not Ready To Join EU

Natali-Loazo/BETAPHOTO/European Parliament/Melanie WENGER/DS

Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the European Parliament and the former French European affairs minister, has said that the Balkan countries “are not at all ready” for membership in the European Union (EU), noting that the EU is not ready either to welcome these new members,” French public radio channel France Inter has reported.

“Europe needs to do much more for the Balkan countries…It does not mean that the Balkan states can join the EU the very next day. Those countries are not ready at all, neither are we ready to welcome them,” she noted.

Loiseau further said she did not advocate actual EU integration, but rather building “a strong partnership at economic, infrastructure and political levels in order to avoid tensions.”